The Adverbial Modifier

on (upon) after before by through because of without in spite of despite instead of at

doing smth

e.g. She locked the door before going to bed.

He left without saying good-bye.

Before going to the station I had to telephone my office on business.

In spite of being ill, he came to the final discussion.

She frightened her father by bursting into tears.

The Gerundial Complex

The Gerund can have a subject of its own different from that of the sentence. In this case the Gerund and its subject form a construction called the Gerundial Complex. The relations between the elements of the complex are predicative. The first element of the complex may be expressed in a number of ways: by a noun in the common case, a noun in the possessive case, a pronoun in the objective case, a possessive pronoun.

boy’s boy my me

doing smth being done

The Gerundial complex has practically the same syntactical functions as the gerund.

Syntactical Functions of the Gerundial Complex

The Subject

It	is was	no use useless no good	Smb’s doing smth
Smb’s doing smth		does smth did smth will do smth would do smth

e.g. It is useless your going there immediately.

His saying this made all the difference.

His being a foreigner and an ex-enemy was bad enough.

The Predicative

to be for / against

smb’s doing smth

e.g. I’m against your going there alone.

He was for your staying there for two more days.

The Direct Object

admit anticipate avoid consider delay deny enjoy escape excuse fancy (imagine) forgive involve mind postpone prevent regret remember resent resist risk suggest, etc. to be worth

smb’s doing smth

e.g. Do you mind my closing the window?

I don’t like his coming late.

The Prepositional Object

to think of to suspect smb of to accuse of to be afraid of to object to to be used to to succeed in to be engaged in to insist on to depend on to apologize for to be grateful for to be responsible for to thank smb for to blame smb for to be clever at to prevent smb from, etc.

smb’s doing smth

e.g. Much depends on your taking the job.

The teacher insisted on my coming in time.

She apologized for her being late.

The Attribute

intention plan idea point sense purpose habit good harm mistake difficulty way opportunity advantage / disadvantage cause		of smb’s doing smth
There is no (little) Smb sees no (little)	sense harm difficulty point danger		in smb’s doing smth

e.g. I had no idea of your being there.

There is little sense in your staying here just now.